Paris must be the city du jour for musicals. Earlier this year on Broadway there was “An American in Paris” (a hit) and “Gigi” (a flop).
Now there’s “My Paris,” a workshop production at Goodspeed Musicals’ Norma Terris Theatre in Chester that boasts some major Broadway and international names.
Tony Award-nominated Bobby Steggart (Broadway’s “Ragtime,” “Big Fish,” “Mothers and Sons”) will star as Toulouse-Lautrec in the Paris-set show July 23 through Aug. 16.
But there’s more: music and lyrics by French singer-composer Charles Aznavour; book by Oscar, Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winner Alfred Uhry (“Driving Miss Daisy,” “Parade,” “The Last Night at Ballyhoo”); English lyrics and musical adaptation by three-time Tony-winner Jason Robert Brown (“The Bridges of Madison County,” “Parade,” “Honeymoon in Vegas”) and staging and choreography by Tony-winner Kathleen Marshall.
Also cast are Tony Award-winner John Glover (“Love! Valour! Compassion!”), who recently played Woodrow Wilson in Long Wharf Theatre’s premiere of “The Second Mrs. Wilson.”
Also in principal roles are Mara Davi (Broadway’s “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas,” “A Chorus Line”) and Donna English (Broadway’s “Nice Work if You Can Get It” and at the Goodspeed Opera House “Half a Sixpence,” “On The Twentieth Century,” “On The Town,” “They All Laughed,” Princesses” and “The Gig.”)
Joining the cast will be Greg Hildreth (Broadway’s “Cinderella,” “Peter and the Starcatcher,” “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson”); John Riddle (Broadway’s “The Visit”); Paul Castree (Broadway’s “Young Frankenstein” and “All Shook Up” at Goodspeed and on Broadway); Chad Jennings (tours of “War Horse,” “South Pacific”); Tari Kelly (Broadway’s “Anything Goes”); Jeffrey Pew (Broadway’s “Cinderella”) and Jermaine R. Rembert (Broadway’s “Memphis”).
Also Kate Marilley (Broadway’s “Billy Elliot,” Goodspeed’s “Guys and Dolls”); Shawna Hamic (Broadway’s “The Last Ship”); Wendi Bergamini (Broadway’s “Doctor Zhivago”) and Cameron Adams (Broadway’s “Gigi”).
Aznavour has sold over 100 million records in eight languages, composing more than 600 songs for more than 90 films and TV shows and concerts.
Brown’s musical “13” premiered at Goodspeed’s Norma Terris Theatre in 2008 before opening on Broadway later that year. He also wrote the orchestrations for Goodspeed’s “John & Jen,” which later played off-Broadway.
Marshall won Tony Awards for her choreography for “Anything Goes,” “The Pajama Game” and “Wonderful Town.” Other Broadway credits include “Living on Love,” “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Follies,” “Kiss Me Kate” and “Swinging on a Star,” which she also choreographed at Goodspeed’s Norma Terris Theatre before the production transferred to Broadway. Information: 860-873-8668 ansd goodspeed.org.
A Show That Kills
The Bushnell, Yale Rep and Hartford Stage are dark for the summer but New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre will present a killer of a warm-weather show with the popular off-Broadway musical comedy mystery “Murder for Two,” which runs Aug. 19 to 30.
The show, with music by Joe Kinosian and book and lyrics by Kellen Blair, is directed by Scott Schwartz.
Kyle Branzel and Ian Lowe make up the cast, playing all of the 13 characters in the 90-minute show, which was recognized as a New York Times Critics’ Pick, a Time Out New York Critics’ Pick, and a New York Magazine Pick.
Tickets are $55. Information: longwharf.org and 203-787-4282.
Murphy Is Mengers
Karen Murphy will star as Hollywood powerhouse agent Sue Mengers in the solo show “I’ll Eat You Last,” the next show up at Hartford’s TheaterWorks.
The beginning of the show’s performances has been changed. There’s been a change in the schedule and previews will now begin July 24, and the show opens on July 31 and runs through Aug. 23. Don Stephenson (Goodspeed’s “Guys and Dolls”) will direct.
The play by John Logan was presented two years ago on Broadway starring Bette Midler.
Murphy’s credits include the national tours of “Mary Poppins,” “Les Miserables,” and “White Christmas;” Broadway’s “All Shook Up,” “42nd Street,” “A Little Night Music” opposite Bernadette Peters; Off-Broadway’s “My Vaudeville Man,” “Zombie Prom and “Hysterical Blindness” and “Forbidden Broadway.” Information: theaterworkshartford.org.
Sol Frieder Exits
Sad news: Sol Frieder, the actor who was in the world premiere of Athol Fugard’s “Have You Seen Us?” at Long Wharf Theatre in 2009 died June 14, a few weeks shy of his 96th birthday. For a time, he was the oldest working performing actor listed in Actors Equity Association. Last year he was featured in John Turturro’s film “Fading Gigolo.”
In “Have You Seen Us?” Frieder played half of an elderly couple who encounter the character played by Sam Waterston in a coffee shop. “The play is about prejudice,” he said, “and about those who are hesitant to fight it and who just tolerate it. It’s a nice part, but small, and I’m very happy to do it.”
Frieder previously worked with Long Wharf director Gordon Edelstein in “God of Vengeance,” an adaptation of a Yiddish play by Donald Margulies, at A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle and at Williamstown Theatre Festival. The actor also was in an earlier play at Long Wharf, “Denial.”
Short Takes
>>“The Legend of Georgia McBride,” a new play by Matthew Lopez whose “Reverberation” premiered at Hartford Stage earlier this year, will open off-Broadway’s MCC Theater season with previews beginning Aug. 20, opening Sept. 9 and running to Oct. 4. Lopez’s “The Whipping Man” and “Somewhere” also played at Hartford Stage. Information: mcctheater.org.
>>Just booked: Comedian Paula Poundstone (NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” will perform at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook July 31.
>>Tickets to all shows for the Hartford Stage 2015/16 season, including the world premieres of “Rear Window,” Christopher Shinn’s “An Opening in Time” and the new musical “Anastasia,” will go on sale July 13 at 860-527-5151 and at hartfordstage.org.
>>Matthew Morrison (TV’s “Glee”) will be among the Broadway performers saluting 2015 Tony Award winner Kelli O’Hara (Broadway’s “The King & I”) at Westport Country Playhouse’s annual fundraiser Sept. 21. Morrison played opposite O’Hara in “The Light in the Piazza,” for which the two actors were nominated for Tony Awards. He also portrayed Lt. Cable, while O’Hara played Nellie Forbush, in the Tony Award-winning revival of “South Pacific” at Lincoln Center Theater. Morrison currently stars in the Broadway musical “Finding Neverland.”
>>The Elm Shakespeare Company, a professional theater company serving Greater New Haven since 1995, has announced the selection of Rebecca Goodheart as the new producing director of the 20-year-old company in New Haven, replacing founding artistic director James Andreassi and managing director Margaret Andreassi. Goodheart was previously founder and producing director of Maryland Shakespeare.
